


Slow Dancing

by carolinecrane



Series: down is where we came from [21]
Category: Glee
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-17
Updated: 2010-10-17
Packaged: 2017-10-12 18:13:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/127668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carolinecrane/pseuds/carolinecrane
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Finn's mocked by his former best friend, inadvertently humiliated by a brother he's pretty sure doesn't even like him that much, and possibly asked out by the most clueless guy in Ohio.  And he has an extra date for the Hummel/Hudson family dinner.  All in all, it's not his best day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slow Dancing

**Author's Note:**

> The rating on this one is kind of misleading. Sorry. I wrote this as a little gift to the people who've been waiting so patiently for some actual Will/Finn interaction. It's been a long time, and I'm sorry. Hopefully this will make up for it.

Most days that he helps out at the shop, Finn goes home afterwards to grab a quick snack and a shower before play rehearsal. Today he's building the perfect triple decker BLT when he hears the front door open, and he leans out of the kitchen expecting to see his mom hustling in balancing grocery bags in both arms. She's been going seriously overboard on the cooking since Kurt got home, and Finn doesn't really _get_ it or anything, but he's not complaining about the leftovers.

Only it's not his mom coming through the front door. Instead he catches sight of Kurt -- Kurt wearing Puck's old team jacket, and _that's_ a weird sight -- followed by Puck himself. As soon as the door closes Puck catches Kurt around the waist and turns him around, laughing and murmuring something Finn definitely does _not_ want to hear before he leans down and plants one right on Kurt's mouth.

And it's cool, they're in love or whatever, Finn gets it. It's not even like it's the first time he's seen it; he got an eyeful just last night, thanks, and he was sort of hoping to get away without another one today. Not because he really minds or anything, but he has to go spend at least a couple hours in Will's company this afternoon, and the last thing he wants to be thinking about is how happy his brother looks. With _Puck_.

Truth is, he's been hoping to avoid seeing Kurt for the rest of his visit, if possible, because their conversation in his truck is still pretty fresh in Finn's mind. It was cool of Kurt to try to help him out a little, he guesses, but he can't think about it without blushing, and if Kurt told Puck, well, Finn might as well just go throw himself off the railroad bridge out on Dixie Highway, because he's seriously never going to be able to look at either of them again.

Kurt's pushing his own coat off Puck's shoulders while they kiss, and Finn so does not need to know why they're trading clothes all of a sudden. He clears his throat and ducks back into the kitchen, and a second later he hears whispering from the hall and then the click of Kurt's shoes heading toward him.

"Hey," Finn says when Kurt appears in the kitchen doorway, not quite looking at him. "I thought you guys were going out for the day."

"There's only so much nostalgia a person can stand before they start to get a migraine," Kurt answers. He's watching Finn move around the kitchen like he wants to say something, but Finn can't bring himself to look up long enough to hear it.

"Yeah, there's not really much to see anyway. I mean, nothing's really changed since you guys bailed."

"So I noticed. Where's Carole?"

Finn does look up at that, but as soon as he meets Kurt's gaze he blushes and looks down again. "She...uh...she said something about taking a couple hours off work to shop. Something about some gourmet grocery store in Dayton."

For a minute Kurt doesn't answer, and Finn's desperate enough to hope that means he's gone. Except he can still _feel_ Kurt standing there, breathing and watching him and probably thinking about how happy he is that he didn't turn out a complete loser like Finn.

"This will probably be a little easier if we just acknowledge that it's going to be awkward for awhile."

"What?" Finn says, forgetting to feel sorry for himself long enough to look at Kurt.

"Well, obviously we both said some things this morning that were a little...uncomfortable," Kurt says, looking away and Finn takes comfort in the fact that at least he's embarrassed too, until he remembers that it's his fault Kurt's embarrassed in the first place.

"Yeah. Listen, Kurt, about that, I've been kind of stressed out lately, trying to figure out what to do about school and stuff, you know? So I probably overreacted or whatever. I've been spending too much time around Will, is all. Maybe I just need a change of scenery."

Kurt looks at him like he really feels sorry for Finn, and maybe he does. Maybe he wasn't lying when he said he was confused back in high school. It's hard to believe; he always seemed so sure of himself back then, like he knew exactly what -- and who -- he wanted, and he wasn't afraid to go for it. Finn, on the other hand...well, he usually picked the person he figured everyone _expected_ him to be with, and so far that strategy hasn't worked out so well.

"Like I said, you'll figure it out, one way or the other."

"Yeah, I guess," Finn says.

"We ran into Mr. Schuester today."

Finn looks up from the sandwich he doesn't really want anymore, and he hates himself a little for the way his pulse picks up speed at the mention of Will.

"We went by the school so Noah could congratulate himself on what a legend he is in his own mind," Kurt adds, rolling his eyes, but he's smiling like he secretly thinks it's pretty cute, and Finn tries really hard not to be weirded out by that. "At any rate, Schue was there, and you should know that Puck invited him to dinner on Saturday night. I'm sorry, he did it before I could stop him. You know how he is when he gets an idea in his head."

And no, Finn really, really doesn't know. He doesn't know anything about _anything_ anymore. He doesn't know this guy who looks just like Puck and sounds just like Puck, loves Kurt more than Finn ever thought he'd be capable of, yet still seems hell-bent on ruining Finn's life for some reason.

He's not even sure how well he knows Kurt, because they never really talk, and when they do Finn gets the feeling Kurt's mostly just putting up with him. For a long time he figured it was just that Kurt didn't want any reminders of Lima at all, but then he moved in with Brittany, and now he's... _engaged_ or whatever to Puck, of all people, and that means that when it sounds like he doesn't want to talk, he just doesn't want to talk to Finn.

"Jesus," Finn says, and he's not even sure what he's most upset about. "Fuck, I invited Quinn."

"Quinn Fabray?" Kurt says, like they know another Quinn. Like maybe he's hoping it turned out to be a really popular name their year, and maybe Finn met another one at school and invited her over, which means Kurt won't have to deal with the mother of his boyfriend's kid.

Maybe Finn should have thought of that, given the guy a little warning or something, but it's felt like ancient history for so long that he never stopped to think that it might still bother Kurt. Quinn and Puck keep in touch, though, and Kurt has to know about that. So maybe it won't be a big deal.

Except now Will's coming over too, and it doesn't change anything, but Finn still kind of feels like he did back when he still thought Quinn was pregnant with his kid and he perved on Rachel Berry anyway.

"Maybe I can call and tell her dinner's canceled."

"No, don't do that."

"Why?" Finn asks, and later maybe he'll take the time to consider how weird it is that Kurt doesn't even have to ask what the problem is with Quinn and Will being in the same room, but for now he's focusing on not hyperventilating at the thought of Will in his house. With his _mom_. And oh, God, Puck.

"Because she'll just hear about it later from Puck, then she'll know you lied to her, and hurting her feelings isn't going to solve anything."

"Oh. Right."

And this isn't the weirdest conversation he's ever had -- that honor still goes to the time he called Kurt and got Puck instead -- but it's right up there. He sure as hell never expected to be standing in the kitchen with Kurt, trying to figure out a way to keep Will and Quinn apart when there's not even a good reason for it. Because it's not like they don't know each other, and it might even be kind of fun to hang out with some of the old Glee crowd again. Only Quinn refuses to come to any of his theater stuff, and maybe somewhere deep down Finn's always kind of known why.

"Jesus," he says again, and when his stomach rolls he grimaces down at his sandwich and goes in search of a container so he can put it in the fridge.

"I could have Puck call her, if you like."

"No," Finn says, because he really does not want Puck talking to Quinn about him. Not that he can stop it, and he figures they've probably already discussed this all the fuck over Facebook anyway, but he doesn't want to have to _think_ about it. "I mean, it's no big deal, right? It's not like they don't like each other or something. She'll probably want to catch up; she hasn't seen Will in awhile."

"You're probably right," Kurt says, but they both know he doesn't believe it. He pushes himself off the door frame where he's been leaning and nods in the direction of the basement. "I better go make sure Puck's not doing any permanent damage."

"Yeah. Okay," Finn answers without looking at him. He hears Kurt walk away but doesn't turn around, not until he hears the sound of the basement door closing. When he's sure he's alone Finn lets out a deep breath, then he leans back against the counter and runs a hand over his face. It's no big deal, he tells himself again, but he still doesn't believe it.

It's not until Kurt's long gone that Finn realizes that in order to take a shower and change before play rehearsal, he has to go downstairs. To the basement, which is where Kurt and Puck are doing God knows what.

"Fuck everything about my life," he mutters, but he pushes himself off the counter anyway, because he can't just blow off rehearsal because he's afraid of walking in on his stepbrother doing...whatever with his boyfriend.

Well, he could, but then he'd have to deal with Will's disappointed expression the next time Finn sees him, and there's no way he can explain that he had to bail because he didn't want to show up at rehearsal covered in grease and smelling like a body shop, but he didn't want to witness Kurt and Puck having sex even more.

He crosses to the basement door and cracks it open, standing at the top of the stairs and listening for a minute. When he doesn't hear any full-on porno noises he pulls the door open a little more, then he clears his throat again.

"Uh, guys, is it cool if I come down?"

At first his only answer is the ping of something that sounds like a video game, then Puck says, "fuck," under his breath. And Finn really, really doesn't want to know, but a second later Puck calls out, "Of course it's fucking cool, it's your room, isn't it?"

Finn takes another breath, and seriously, if he keeps breathing that deep he's going to make himself dizzy. He takes the stairs slowly, squinting to keep from seeing more than he has to until he spots Kurt's bed. Kurt's thankfully empty bed, still made up nice and neat like it was when they left the house that morning.

When he steps into the room Puck's sitting on the couch, feet up on the coffee table and beating the hell out of one of Finn's Playstation controllers as he fires a couple really pathetic shots at one of the characters on the screen. And that's weird, because Puck used to kick his ass at Halo on a regular basis.

"Hey, Hudson," Puck says, glancing up from the screen long enough to look Finn up and down. "Listen, we invited Schue to dinner on Saturday. You should maybe think about wearing something a little nicer than that."

Finn scowls down at his clothes for a second, then decides it's not worth the fight. He still knows Puck well enough to know when he's trying to get a rise out of Finn, anyway, and he's not really up for it. Instead he just crosses to the dresser on his side of the room and digs out a clean pair of briefs and some socks, then he turns to look around for Kurt.

He spots him at what used to be his desk or makeup table or whatever; anyway, it's where he used to sit and put shit on his face before bed. He's writing something when Finn comes in, but as soon as Finn looks at him he grabs whatever it is and shoves it in a drawer.

"Listen," Finn says, frowning at the guilty look on Kurt's face, "I've got play rehearsal, so I'm just going to jump in the shower quick. If that's okay with you."

"Of course," Kurt says, standing up and smiling a little too brightly and now Finn's sure there's something going on, but as long as it doesn't involve walking in on them naked, he doesn't really care. "We'll go so you can have some privacy."

"You don't have to leave. I mean, I'll be out of here in like twenty minutes, and then you'll have the place to yourselves. Until Mom comes home, anyway, and she'll probably be another couple hours."

And oh, God, why can he never just stop talking? Because he's practically begging them to have sex the minute he leaves, and if he starts picturing _that_ he's never going to make it through blocking without hurting himself.

Puck laughs and unfolds himself from the couch, shutting off the game with one last disgusted look. "Man, I used to be _king_ of Halo."

He stands up and looks Finn over again, shaking his head like he's pretty sure Finn's a lost cause.

"Dude, chill. Kurt won't put out in his dad's house. He's totally uptight about the parental thing."

Finn blushes hard and steals a glance at Kurt, but he's currently staring at Puck like he's not planning to put out _anywhere_ any time soon. Maybe not ever. Finn clears his throat and edges around the two of them toward the bathroom.

"Yeah, so...uh...I'll see you guys later."

He ducks into the bathroom before he has to hear what's bound to be an epic bitching out courtesy of his stepbrother, then he turns the water all the way to cold and avoids looking in the mirror.

~

Twenty minutes later Finn emerges from the bathroom, freezing and not feeling a whole lot better than he did before his shower. The house is quiet, though, and Puck and Kurt aren't still hanging around the basement, so he figures they're either upstairs on the couch kissing and making up, or they went outside to fight in the car Burt loaned them.

He lets out a sigh and pulls on a pair of jeans, frowning at his closet for a minute or two while he tries to figure out which of his shirts counts as 'a little nicer than that'. _Like Puck knows anything about fashion_ , he thinks as he reaches for a white long-sleeved shirt with an Ohio State logo on the front. He pulls it over his head and stares down at it for a second before reaching out again and grabbing the bright blue t-shirt his mom brought home for him last time she went clothes shopping.

He tells himself he's only layering because it's cold outside. It doesn't have anything to do with his mom's ten minute speech about how nice he looks in blue when she handed the shirt over.

When he's dressed he sits down on the couch to pull on his sneakers, then he tucks his wallet and his keys into his jeans. He's almost to the stairs when he spots it: a green bag lying in the center of his bed, kind of wrapped around whatever's inside like it's supposed to be a present or something.

The last time Finn found something on his bed it was a Camaro repair manual, and he's still not sure if that means Burt _knows_ , because he's been acting like it never happened since, and there's no way Finn's going to _ask_.

He glances toward the stairs to make sure he's alone, then he takes a deep breath and crosses to his bed. It takes him a few tries to work up the courage to open the bag, but when he does he has to sit down hard on the edge of the mattress.

There's a Post-It stuck to the center of the book, but it's not hiding much about the two guys on the cover, and Finn swallows hard when blood rushes straight to his dick.

 _This might be a little more useful than Internet porn. I would have wrapped it and put it under the tree, but I didn't think Dad could handle it. -- Kurt_

Finn reads the Post-It a few times before he pulls it off the cover, taking in the full picture for the first time. It's not raunchy or anything, just two guys, shirtless and making out. He can barely even see their faces, but still, there's something about the way they're sort of pressed together that tugs at the base of his stomach in a way he usually tries to ignore.

Mostly because he only feels that weird tug when Will smiles at him a certain way, like the other day when he glanced up from pulling out a stripped spark plug to grin like he'd just performed fucking open heart surgery or something. At the time Finn just laughed at him and handed him a fresh plug, then he told himself the little tug of want in his stomach was just from skipping lunch.

Only he's not all that hungry right now, even though his sandwich is still sitting untouched in the fridge, and he still feels that tug when he looks at the picture on the cover of the book. Finn blushes hard and flips through a few pages, eyes going a little wider with each illustration he spots. When he gets to the part about the right technique for toe sucking he closes the book hard, standing up and shoving it under his mattress.

And that's just great, because now he's late for rehearsal and he's sporting a raging hard-on, and he's going to have to leave town until Kurt and Puck go back to L.A. He sure as hell can't _look_ at either of them again; he's not even sure he'll be able to look at Will, at least not without picturing Will doing all the things in that book.

Kurt's trying to help. He gets that, and he mostly appreciates it. After all, Finn's the one who asked for advice, and there's definitely plenty in that book to help him figure out which team he's playing for. But Kurt's timing completely sucks, because Finn should have left five minutes ago, and all he really wants to do is go back in the bathroom and jerk off while he thinks about Will sucking on his toes and his fingers and a whole bunch of other parts of Finn that he's never let himself think about until now.

Once he starts picturing it he can't stop, because the universe, like, completely _hates_ him, and reaching down to adjust his aching cock just makes it worse. He wants to stretch out on his mattress, dig into the sheets and maybe take his jeans off so he can spread his legs wide, but Kurt and Puck are probably still hanging around upstairs, and if they walk in while he's jerking off they're going to know exactly what he's thinking about.

"Fuck," Finn hisses under his breath, then he stands up and stalks across the room to shut himself in the bathroom. He turns the lock and leans against the door, flips on the exhaust fan, like that's enough to drown out whatever noises he won't be able to stop himself from making.

The first touch of his hand on his dick is painful, and he hisses sharp under his breath and slides his thumb over the head of his cock. He's watching his hand move, slow and sure because it's not like he hasn't done this a thousand times before. But he's never let himself wonder what Will's hand would look like on his dick, how different the angle would be and if it would feel the same or if he'd be able to tell it was somebody else's -- another guy's -- hand.

Will's hands are smaller than his; Finn knew that even before they started working on Will's car, before he had an excuse to spend hours just staring at Will's fingers. He wonders what it would be like to suck on them, taking each one between his lips one by one, getting them good and wet before...and that's as far as he gets, because what comes after that is really fucking scary.

Finn comes hard anyway, wet heat splashing on his fingers and the tile floor and Jesus, he hopes he doesn't have to change again. He'd be embarrassed at how fast he was, except he's got places to be, and anyway this is the first time he's let himself think about Will while he jerks off instead of trying to get his brain to switch the scenario to Quinn or even some random pin-up model from the calendars at the shop.

He grabs some toilet paper and wipes himself off, then he tucks back in and zips up his jeans. He cleans his come off the floor before he flushes the evidence, carefully avoiding looking at his reflection while he washes his hands. And okay, so all that stuff he said earlier about spending too much time around Will and getting ideas in his head that aren't really true was bullshit. He knew it while he was saying it, and Kurt's Christmas present just sort of...drove the point home.

Which means his brother really did help him figure things out, even though he probably didn't want to. Finn figures he should leave Kurt a note or something, at least say thanks or whatever, but that would probably just make things worse.

He takes a deep breath and straightens up, then he shuts off the exhaust fan and the bathroom light and heads up the stairs to find his coat and go to rehearsal.

~

Finn walks into the theater half an hour late. He could have made it an even twenty minutes, but he spent ten minutes sitting in the parking lot outside the theater trying to talk himself into going inside.

As soon as Will spots him he says something to the group of chorus members gathered around him and turns toward Finn, his stupid brown eyes all filled with concern and a frown making little wrinkles gather in the space above his nose. Finn tamps down hard on a sudden urge to hit him when Will grips his shoulder and frowns up at him.

"Hey, I was starting to get worried. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, sorry," Finn answers, forcing a smile that he knows isn't fooling anybody. "I had to work this morning and there was this huge mess with an oil pan, and it took me forever to get cleaned up."

He can't remember if it's the first time he's ever lied to Will. Then again, it feels like a lie every time Finn looks at him and _doesn't_ kiss him, so maybe it doesn't matter.

"Oh. Well, I'm glad you're okay," Will says, and Finn can't tell if it's a bullshit 'we both know you're lying but I'm not going to call you on it' oh, or a 'as long as I don't have to deal with the hassle of recasting' oh.

"We're just about to walk through the blocking in the market scene," Will says, and Finn blinks and tries to get his head back in the game. "Why don't you go grab your script and run some lines with Marnie until we need you. I think she's back in costuming getting measured."

Will squeezes his shoulder one more time and walks away, and Finn frowns at his back for a few seconds before he turns and walks off stage. He doesn't know what he was expecting, exactly; he's half an hour late for rehearsal and he's one of the principal cast, so he probably threw off Will's whole schedule. He deserves a chewing out, or at the very least a warning not to do it again or Will's giving his part to that Ernie kid who always smells like bubble gum.

And he knows how weird it is to be disappointed that Will's _not_ mad at him, but everything about his life is weird lately. Finn sighs and runs a hand through his hair, then he trudges backstage to find Marnie.

~

Two hours later they've run through the blocking for most of the first act, minus the musical numbers. Finn spends most of rehearsal hanging around Marnie, reading lines out in the audience while Will works out the blocking for the scenes that involve most of the cast. They have to take a break for a few of the big group scenes, but by the end of rehearsal Finn figures they're going to play off each other pretty well during the actual performance.

Marnie's a cool girl, funny and sort of pretty and she's not the best actress, but she wants to learn, and she's got a great voice. She's around his age, and when she flirts with him he finds himself sort of wishing that he could be into her the way he figures he probably should be.

And the thing is, he _could_ , at least in theory. He likes girls, likes that they're soft and they always smell good. He likes kissing them, and he's never had a problem getting it up for the few girls he has dated. It just turns out that he could probably get it up just fine for another dude too, and yeah, it's kind of unexpected, but it's not like he can make it go away or anything.

So he can go either way, just like Puck, and that's...well, it's weird, but he's starting to get used to the concept, anyway. It would be a lot easier on everybody if he took the in Marnie's offering, because it's safe and more or less what's expected of him, and it makes sense from the outside.

Except his brain and his heart and apparently his dick are all pointing in the exact opposite direction. He looks over at Will, watching him smile and thank a couple cast members before he glances in Finn's direction. As soon as their eyes meet Finn blushes and wishes he'd made a break for it when he had the chance, when Will first announced they were done for the day and told everybody they could go.

If he hadn't hung around pretending to listen to Marnie talking about their number he could be halfway home by now, and the next time he saw Will...well, it would probably be across the dinner table on Saturday night.

Finn's stomach flips when he remembers, and when Will waves at him like he wants Finn to wait, he just nods and resigns himself to an awkward conversation about when Will should show up at his house.

He waits around while Will picks up his stuff and shoves it into his bag, then he waits some more while Will turns off the house lights. It feels like hours before he's finally crossing the stage toward Finn, but it can't be more than five minutes. When he reaches Finn he smiles, sort of shy around the edges and Finn has to bite back a groan.

"I think that went okay. It could have been better, of course, but I think we'll get there."

"It went fine," Finn says, because it's the truth. The blocking's fine, the cast is pretty cool, and Will's just got first time director jitters. The fact that he's looking to Finn to talk him down from them is pretty funny, but Finn swallows a laugh and reaches out to pat Will's shoulder. "Seriously. It's going to be a great show."

"Thanks, Finn," Will says, smiling for real this time and it makes Finn's heart speed up a little. "Listen, do you have plans tonight? Because I haven't tackled the choreography for any of the musical numbers yet, and I could really use the help."

"You know I can't dance," Finn says, instead of _yes, God, anything, as long as you keep smiling like that_.

Will laughs, mostly because he knows it's true. Finn couldn't dance back in Glee, and he hasn't exactly improved since then. He's managed to fake it for the handful of musicals the theater company's done so far, but they both know he's never going to be headlining _Cabaret_ or anything.

"You don't really have to be graceful to know where the actors should be on stage. It's pretty much the same as blocking a scene; you're just blocking to music and finding a way to make it look natural."

Finn shrugs, because he still thinks he's going to suck at choreography, but if Will wants to hang out with him, he's not going to say no. "Okay."

"Great," Will says, like he was really worried Finn was going to tell him thanks, but he's already got a better offer. "I figured we could order a pizza or something and go over the big numbers. You hungry?"

"Starving."

That gets him another laugh, and he's not sure if Will's laughing _at_ him or what, but when Will says, "good," and puts a hand on Finn's shoulder to lead him toward the back door, Finn decides it doesn't really matter.

~

"So I've been thinking," Finn says, picking up the beer Will handed him when Finn walked into his kitchen. The delivery guy's come and gone, and between the two of them they've nearly finished off a large with everything.

It's not the first time Finn's been in Will's apartment. It's not even the first time they've split take-out and beers; Will always invites Finn in when they're done working on his car, and they usually end up ordering Chinese or something and talking about the play. The first time Will invited him in he offered Finn a beer like he didn't even remember a time when he wouldn't have been able to do that, and something about that moment made Finn feel a little better about whatever it is they're doing.

It made him feel a lot less like Finn Hudson, star quarterback and Mr. Schuester's favorite, anyway, and a lot more like Finn, a guy that Will sometimes likes to hang out with.

Since then Will just opens the fridge and pulls out two beers automatically, and Finn doesn't turn him down, because he's not crazy about Will's shitty foreign beer, but he likes that they've got...well, sort of a routine.

"Yeah?" Will asks, looking up from his notes on the play to gaze expectantly at Finn.

"What? Oh," Finn says, blushing when he remembers that he'd been talking a minute ago. "So, yeah, I've been thinking about what you said. About studying theater."

"So does that mean..." And maybe Will only looks sort of excited because Finn's his pet project and he's taking Will's advice, but Finn kind of wants it to mean something else.

"I think so." He nods and picks at the label on his beer, pushing the damp paper around with a fingernail so he won't have to look at Will. "Figured I'd put off graduation for a year, try a few theater classes. If I don't totally hate it I can do another minor and go from there."

"Finn, that's great. I really think you're making the right choice," Will says, and he's fucking _beaming_ in a way that makes Finn want to do a dozen more minors just to make him keep smiling like that.

"Mainly I guess I'm deciding not to decide or whatever," Finn answers, but he's grinning right back at Will. And the truth is, he's kind of excited about studying theater. He's been thinking about it since Will first brought it up, and he knows Will's right about him having kind of a knack for it. The fact that it makes Will look at him like Finn's the best thing he's ever seen is just a bonus.

"I haven't run it by my folks yet, but they'll be cool with it, I think."

For a minute Will just sits there and smiles at him without saying anything. Like he doesn't even realize how much time he spends staring at Finn and grinning like he's the best thing Will's ever seen. Like he's never noticed how completely crazy that makes Finn, because he has no idea if Will's just that clueless, or if he's waiting for Finn to do something about it.

"Listen, I've got a couple tickets to the touring production of _Into the Woods_ in Cincinnati in February," Will finally says, clearing his throat and shifting a little in his chair. He looks...nervous, maybe, but Finn's not sure why until Will starts talking again.

"I was thinking if we can scrape up the money to pay for the rights, we might want to perform it next year. What do you say, want to come check it out with me? I mean, even if we don't perform it with the group, it's not a bad idea to start getting familiar with some bigger productions, just to see how they're done."

He wants to ask who Will was planning to take when he bought the tickets. He wants to know if this was always about going with Finn, or if he's really just asking because he figures it would be a good experience, and he can't quite turn off that whole teacher thing, even now that they're...well, friends, Finn thinks.

He wants to know if Will wanted to go with Angela before Finn torpedoed whatever was happening with them by talking Will into casting her as Golde. He can't ask any of that without sounding like he's jealous or something, though, and he's not.

"If you can't make it because of school I'll understand," Will's saying, and Jesus, he really _is_ nervous. Finn swallows hard and shakes his head, mouth opening and closing a couple times before he remembers how to talk.

"No, I mean yeah, I mean...I can make it. Sounds fun."

"Are you sure? Because..."

"Will, I'll go," Finn says, talking over Will before he has a chance to talk himself right back out of inviting Finn. "I want to go."

"Okay. Great," Will says, then he's right back to grinning, and just like that, they...sort of have a date. At least Finn thinks they do, only he's not really sure, because between Will's car and play rehearsals they already hang out all the time, and this might just be more of that. And Finn's never dated a guy before, so he has no clue how to figure out if it's a friends date or a _date_ date.

There might be something in the book about this, but he'd have to get past the pictures of guys blowing each other first.

Finn blushes bright red and downs the rest of his beer, then he pushes the pizza box out of the way and starts spreading Will's notes on the coffee table. "So should we get started on the choreography?"

"Sure. You want another beer?" Will asks, picking up the empties and the pizza box as he heads for the kitchen.

"Thanks," Finn calls after him, even though it's probably the last thing he needs right now, because at least it gives him something to do with his hands.

"So I ran into Kurt and Puck today," Will says when he walks back into the living room, handing Finn a bottle before he takes a seat in the chair across from Finn.

"Uh, yeah, I heard about that."

"They told you?" Will asks, and he sounds so surprised that Finn forgets to be embarrassed long enough to look at him.

"Yeah, they said they invited you over for dinner. Saturday night, right? Mom usually serves about 6:00, so any time before then is cool. I can write down the address before I leave."

"Thanks." Will's looking at him again, sort of smiling but not really, like he wants to say something but he kind of doesn't at the same time.

"What?" Finn asks before he can stop himself, reaching up to rub a hand across his mouth. "Do I have pizza sauce on my face or something?"

"No," Will answers, flashing the smile that does weird things to Finn's stomach. "It's just...I guess they didn't tell you what they were doing when I ran into them."

"No, they just...oh, man," Finn says, his whole face heating up when he figures out what Will's not saying. "At the school?"

"In the locker room," Will says, and he's laughing like it's the funniest thing he's seen in _days_ , but he's blushing too. "I went by the school to pick up some extra copies of the Fiddler script, and there was a car in the parking lot. Except no one's supposed to be there because of the holiday, you know? I know most of the teachers' cars, so I was pretty sure it wasn't any of them. I figured I'd just take a look around, make sure someone hadn't just broken down and pulled into the parking lot to get off the road. And when I walked into the locker room there they were, right up against the lockers."

"Jesus," Finn says, squeezing his eyes shut against the mental image his brain's already adding to the little collection of Kurt and Puck porn he's trying really, _really_ hard not to think about. "You should have called the cops."

Will laughs and sets his beer down, shaking his head as he watches Finn grimace. "They were still fully clothed. For the most part. Anyway, it was kind of...sweet. Weird, but sweet. They seem really happy together. Well, Kurt mostly seemed like he thought I was going to give him detention, but Puck couldn't have been happier."

"Yeah, Puck's having a great time these days."

"Are they really getting married?" Will asks the question with this kind of awed look on his face, like now that he's _seen_ them together he can totally believe it.

"I guess." Finn shrugs and picks up his beer, thumbnail digging under the label. "I mean, Kurt hasn't mentioned it, but he doesn't talk to me about much. Not that he doesn't like me or anything," Finn adds, picturing a hastily written Post-It stuck on the cover of a book, "I just don't think he knows what to say to me. There was some stuff in high school. I was kind of a dick about it, I guess."

He doesn't know what makes him say any of that, much less to Will. To Quinn, sure, but he and Will don't really have those kinds of conversations. Mostly they just talk about the play or what Finn's going to do with his life; they don't talk about personal stuff all that much, and when Finn looks up he expects Will to look sort of uncomfortable. But Will's just looking back at him, steady, like he's waiting for Finn to man up and look him in the eye.

"That was a pretty long time ago, Finn," he says, and the way Will says his name makes his heart beat a little faster. "You guys are both different people now."

"Yeah, I guess." Finn sets his beer down and clears his throat, then he shifts forward on the couch and picks up the sheet music for "Sunrise, Sunset". "So should we get started on this? It's getting kind of late."

"Sure," Will says, frowning at him for another second before he leans in and starts describing what he had in mind for the song. Once they're back on the familiar territory of the play it's easy for Finn to relax, and by the time they work out the blocking for the song he's not thinking about Kurt or Puck anymore.


End file.
